Certain vehicles, such as some sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks, include a cab portion defining a passenger compartment, and a rear cargo area such as a pickup truck cargo box. A midgate panel assembly is movable between a closed position to obstruct a body opening between the passenger compartment and the rear cargo area, and an open position to connect the passenger compartment and the rear cargo area. When the midgate panel assembly is in the open position, cargo may extend from the rear cargo area into the passenger compartment, increasing the cargo-carrying capacity of the vehicle.
Some midgate panel assemblies include an inner panel and an outer panel that cooperate to form a cavity. A retractable window is selectively movable between a raised position for cooperating with the inner and outer panels to obstruct the body opening, and a retracted position in which the window is substantially entirely within the cavity. An exemplary vehicle with a midgate is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,863, issued Feb. 4, 2003 to Renke et al, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.